Was it something they put in the Lucozade? Last year a unit of Suntory of Japan cheered up GlaxoSmithKline's shareholders by overpaying for the sporty drink plus Ribena. Now Suntory itself, on a grander scale, is doing the same for investors in Beam, distiller of Maker's Mark, Teacher's and Jim Beam itself.

A proposed takeover price of $16bn (£9.8bn), or 20 times topline earnings, is beyond any valuation outsiders thought possible. Suntory, it is said, is keen to escape its slow home market. At this price, desperate is a better description.